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Chalky White in Season 1
Chalky White is a major character in the first season. This article details their actions in each episode of the season. Boardwalk Empire (pilot) Chalky first appears waiting for a meeting outside Atlantic County Treasurer Nucky Thompson's suite at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Nucky does not have time for Chalky. The Ivory Tower Chalky is brought in to replace Mickey Doyle as the head of Nucky's bootlegging business after Doyle is arrested by Prohibition Agent Nelson Van Alden. Broadway Limited A cart driver steers his hearse into a livery. Inside, he is greeted by Nucky Thompson and Chalky. Chalky notes the driver’s tardiness and he says that his horse is not exactly Man’O War (a race horse). Nucky jokingly asks the horse if it has run at Saratoga. Chalky has his driver, Kendall, open the hearse up – it is filled with crates of Canadian Club Whisky. Chalky instructs his team to unload the hearse warning them that he will be doing a bottle count and will take a drop of blood from them for every drop of whisky missing. Nucky jokes that Chalky is like Simon Legree (a cruel slave dealer character from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe). Chalky mishears him and says he does not care if his team agree or not. Nucky pauses and asks Chalky what he thinks of the delivery. Chalky's operation dilutes the whiskey with water, replace the alcohol content with fermented potatoes and repackage it. Chalky estimates that he can turn 500 bottles into 3000. Chalky asks how they will split the income from selling the whisky and Nucky offers a 20 percent share to Chalky for repackaging it. Chalky is disappointed at the low percentage and Nucky reassures him that it is the same percentage he gave to Mickey Kuzik. Chalky notes that Mickey has changed his name to Doyle, calling Mickey “motherfucker.” Chalky offers 40 percent and tells Nucky that he skipped 30 percent because Nucky thought he would accept the same deal as Mickey. Nucky calls Chalky sensitive and counters with 35 percent. Chalky agrees and they shake on the deal. Chalky oversees the unloading while Nucky whispers to his assistant Eddie Kessler, asking if Eddie knows what motherfucker means; Eddie guesses it is a “schwarze” (German, meaning black) word. In the livery Chalky has his team relabelling the diluted liquor. He instructs Kendall to bring his Packard round to the front and smokes a cigarette. Chalky ducks out of the livery into the rain and is halted by a scratched message on his car door. It reads “liquor kills.” His gaze tracks a rope from the car door over the yard arm of the livery sign where Kendall has been lynched. Chalky has Kendall's body brought into the livery and summons Nucky and Eli Thompson. He laments that his driver was less than twenty; Nucky calls it a tragedy. Chalky suspects a cover-up and glares at Nucky. Nucky insists that the means of the driver’s death must be concealed because it is an election year. Chalky accepts Nucky’s demands for now. Nucky lays out a cover story involving a jealous husband shooting the driver. Chalky insists on a 50 percent split and Nucky nods. To support the tale Eli shoots the corpse twice. Anastasia Nucky Thompson understands that Chalky is incensed by Kendall's murder and pressures his brother, Sheriff Eli Thompson, to catch the killers. Given the nature of the crime Eli arrests Joseph Earl Dinler, the Grand Cyclops of the Atlantic County Branch of the Ku Klux Klan. Eli tortures Dinler but Dinler continues to deny involvement. Eli then allows Chalky to question Dinler personally. Chalky takes off Dinler’s hood and tells Dinler that he comes from Elgin, Texas. Chalky tells Dinler a story about his father, a carpenter. He was employed by white business owner Theo Purcell to build a bookcase for Purcell’s home. The project took 10 months and once completed Chalky was allowed to visit, through the front door, to see the work. Chalky recalls the beauty of his father’s carving. A month later another white man told Chalky’s father that he wanted to hire him, took him across town and lynched him from a pepper tree. Chalky has his father’s carpentry tools with him and when Dinler asks what they are for Chalky tells him that he will not be building a book case. Eli is waiting for Chalky when he leaves the room where Dinler is being held. Chalky tells Eli the Klan were not involved and shows him Dinler’s severed finger (signet ring still in place) as confirmation. Home In a speakeasy in the North Side Chalky holds a bottle of liquor in one hand and an un-affixed label for Monogram Whiskey in the other. He puts down the bottle and asks Jerome who made the poor quality stickers. Jerome says that it was Furskey on Illinois Avenue. Chalky smudges the label with his thumb and complains that the ink is not set. Jerome says that Furskey offered a 50 dollar discount. Chalky angrily says that Furskey could pay him and he still would not use his work. An incessant knocking starts up on the door and the visitor calls out for Mr White. Jerome heads to the door, hand on his weapon. Chalky’s lieutenant and another employee flank the door. The employee opens it and the visitor steps in. Chalky’s man frisks him as he holds up his arms and begins speaking. He addresses Chalky, correctly assuming that he is Mr White, and says that is an honour to meet him. Chalky profanely asks who he is and he introduces himself with an alias, Michael Lewis. He claims that he is a businessman from Manhattan, New York with a proposition and asks if he can approach. Chalky tells him to stay where he is, shrugs and asks what he offers. Lewis notices packing material on the floor and returns it to the open crate of whiskey on the barstool next to him. Lewis launches into a story about discounted branded coats available from less well known vendors. Chalky points out that he is not running a coat store and Lewis states that the principle is the same in the alcohol business. He elucidates that Chalky manufactures a product with a price determined by quality, cost and competition. Lewis asks what Chalky says and Chalky puts his hands in his pockets and obstinately wonders what about. Lewis wonders if he can purchase 1000 cases of liquor from Chalky, saying that it would be to their mutual benefit. Chalky notes that he is talking about cutting out the middle man (in this case Nucky) and forming a private arrangement. Chalky changes the subject, wondering if Lewis’ mother knows that he is out wearing his father’s suit and calling him “short pants.” Chalky’s men laugh and Lewis plays along with the joke saying that his mother also doesn’t know that he has $10,000 in cash and produces the money (in $500 notes) from his coat pocket. Chalky’s men bristle as he reaches into the coat and then relax. Lewis says that Chalky merely needs to recognise an opportunity and puts the money on the table in front of him. Chalky thumbs though the banded cash and laughs, telling Lewis to take a message to Nucky Thompson; it will take more than $10,000 to make him disloyal. Lewis says that they cannot blame him for trying, tugs his cap respectfully and turns to exit. Jerome blocks his path but allows him to sidestep around him and leave. Nucky and Harry Prince spend the evening at one of Chalky's bars on the Northside. Mamie Smith is singing and the crowd are dancing along. Chalky enters and Nucky introduces him to Harry, saying that he is the proprietor of the bar. Chalky tells Nucky that he met his “boy” confusing him. Chalky offers a bit more; a little kid called Mr Lewis that came with a bank roll to test his loyalty. Nucky says that he does not know what Chalky is talking about. Chalky doesn’t believe Nucky but wishes him a good evening before he leaves anyway. The Emerald City After Doyle switches sides back to Nucky and informs him of the D'Alessios conspiring with Luciano and Rothstein, Nucky meets with Chalky to discuss Lansky's original offer. He encourages Chalky to meet with Lansky and agree to whatever deal is being proposed, in order to lure as many of the D'Alessios in one place as possible. Chalky meets with Lansky, along with Lucien and Matteo D'Alessio, and accepts an offer to become Rothstein's point man in Atlantic City. However, one of the brothers makes an offhand comment about Chalky driving a Packard, in this moment he realizes that they were responsible for the lynching. Chalky draws two pistols, turns and asks: "How you know I drive a Packard?" After Nucky and Jimmy come to Chalky's warehouse where Lansky and the D'Alessios are bound, Nucky chastises Chalky for not waiting until all men are in one place. Jimmy soon after shoots Lucien in the head for mouthing off and Chalky instructs his men to take Lucien's corpse to the dump. An enraged Matteo promises that when his brothers return Chalky will meet the same fate as Kendall. Without a word, Chalky walks over to Matteo and pins him against a post, strangling him to death with his bare hands. See also *Chalky White Season 2 *Chalky White Season 3 *Season 1 References Season 1 Category:Season 1 Character Breakdowns